The Big Tech Rotation of 2024
Things are getting strange. On social media, a feeling of angst has taken over the tech space. Apple and Tesla are said to be on the ropes while calls for Google replacing its CEO are on the rise. Other companies, including Meta and Microsoft, are riding PR highs. AI mania continues to add chaos to the mix. Oh, and Bitcoin is back at all-time highs. The signs support the theory that we are seeing a Big Tech rotation unfolding on Wall Street with carryover effects spilling over into Silicon Valley.
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Autonomy Is the Missing EV Piece
News of GM dialing back its EV sales targets wasn’t met with much surprise. Elon Musk’s downbeat Tesla earnings call a week prior had already lowered EV demand expectations. However, the question remains: Is EV demand declining simply because of higher interest rates resulting in higher financing costs? It’s prudent not to box ourselves into such a narrow explanation. Instead, there is a bigger problem at play. EVs are waiting for, and needing, autonomy, but the technology has proven far more difficult to achieve than consensus thought.
With EVs in mind, the role that would be given to autonomy is straightforward.
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The EV Price War Has Arrived
The auto industry is in a weird place right now. Automakers have benefited from software’s inevitable march into their space. However, the auto space is nowhere near where the tech industry thought it would be by now. In the mid-2010s, autonomy was considered by many to be a problem that would be solved by 2020. Elon Musk positioned full autonomy as a “next year” goal for years although he interestingly stopped making such predictions recently. Now we see signs of a price war unfolding in the electric vehicle (EV) space with Tesla and now Ford looking to cut prices. These developments leave me scratching my head.
Tesla is in an interesting spot. In the second half of 2022, the company saw some cracks form in its growth story.
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Elon Musk and a New Era of Tech Celebrity
Elon Musk continued his streak of being unlike any other CEO by guest hosting Saturday Night Live this past weekend. For those who have followed Musk over the years, including his Twitter activity, the show went pretty much as one would expect.
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Receive Exclusive Essays. The cornerstone of an Inside Orchard subscription is access to Neil’s weekly essays on the latest developments in the technology industry. Weekly essays are 1,000 words and sent via email on Mondays. Essays revolve around the following topics: technology industry analysis, business model analysis, technology’s impact on societal and consumer trends. A sample essay can be viewed here.
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